- Kirill Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 16th goal in 18 games against the Sharks
- The goal opened the scoring for the Wild in the first period Friday night
- Read below for the pace he’s on and how the Wild’s top line got here
Kirill Kaprizov keeps finding the net.
The Wild winger scored his NHL-leading 16th goal of the season Friday night, opening the scoring against the Sharks at Grand Casino Arena. It came just under eight minutes into the first period and put Minnesota up 1-0.
Watch Kaprizov get it done:
That’s 16 goals in 18 games. Kaprizov came into the night with 15 in 17, a total that had him on pace for 74 goals over an 84-game season. At 16 in 18, the pace sits at roughly 75. A 75-goal season would be the most since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each scored 76 in 1992-93.
We wrote about the 14-in-14 start last week after his power-play goal against Utah. Here’s that one, for reference:
Kaprizov also arrived with a six-game point streak (four goals, five assists), so the goal stretches it to seven. Linemate Matt Boldy was asked about Kaprizov’s October earlier this week, and he wasn’t surprised.
“We all know what he’s capable of,” Boldy said. “We see it every day.”
Minnesota’s top line of Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov has a lot to do with the fast starts. The Wild had scored first in six straight games before Friday and owned a 9-0-3 record when they lit the lamp first. Michael McCarron was asked what’s behind that.
“Probably having the best line in hockey,” McCarron said.
The Sharks walked in on the wrong end of all of it. San Jose was 1-5-0 over its last six games and coming off a 7-2 loss to the Kings on Wednesday. Kaprizov already owned 27 points in 21 career games against them, and he’s now got another one.
